Posted by Matt on 2 November, 2010 · Leave a Comment
I didn’t enjoy the Lyric Hammersmith’s revival of Blasted – but you’d think I was sick if I said I had, right?
Filed under Daydreams · Tagged with @lurkmoophy, a younger theatre, aleks sierz, carousel of fantasies, charles spencer, diana damian, dominic kent, eoghan o'neill, fourth wall, hannah stratton, honour bayes, ian foster, jake orr, lyric, matt trueman, michael billington, michael coveney, paul taylor, quentin letts, sarah kane, sean holmes, the guardian, the independent, the mail, the public reviews, the stage, the telegraph, theartsdesk, theatre thoughts, there ought to be clowns, west end whingers, what's on stage
Posted by Matt on 4 October, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The best bits of Dougal Irvine’s new musical call to mind a sort of booze-hazy Rashomon.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with andrew girvan, british theatre guide, dougal irvine, ian foster, laura rare, matilda battersby, paul vale, pip minnithorpe, the independent, the public reviews, the stage, there ought to be clowns, waterloo east, what's on stage
Posted by Matt on 12 September, 2010 · 5 Comments
If you missed Simon Stephens’s Punk Rock this time last year, now’s your chance to make good. Despite only three of the original cast having survived to join this touring production, in most important respects it’s a facsimile of the premiere.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with a younger theatre, british theatre guide, evening standard, fiona mountford, ian foster, lyn gardner, lyric, matilda battersby, sammi woollard, sarah frankcom, simon stephens, the guardian, the independent, there ought to be clowns
Posted by Matt on 27 August, 2010 · 1 Comment
Six ghosts stationed around the building recount the tale of the Winter Palace music hall and the power struggle between its manager, Mr Hunter (a Mason) and the newest chorus girl, Flora – and it isn’t a tale for the easily-made-queasy.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with alice jones, brian donaldson, british theatre guide, broadway baby, daisy bowie-sell, david leddy, evening standard, fiona mountford, fringe 10, hill street, honour bayes, lyn gardner, margarita semsi, martin gimenez, musicomh, natasha tripney, the guardian, the independent, the list, the observer, the telegraph, threeweeks, tom lamont, what's on stage
Posted by Matt on 16 August, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The book is mostly prosaic and uninspired, but not offensively so, and the production isn’t without a certain boisterous, admirably carefree charm.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with alice jones, assembly, british theatre guide, catherine lamm, fringe 10, keith paterson, the independent, the list, theartsdesk, veronica lee, what's on stage
Posted by Matt on 11 July, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The first and final scenes of this open-air Comedy of Errors feel dashed off, as if director Philip Franks couldn’t be bothered to do much with them. This isn’t as big a problem as it might be in a different play: The Comedy of Errors is mostly middle.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with abi johnson, british theatre guide, broadway world, charles spencer, evening standard, henry hitchings, howard loxton, ian foster, islington tribune, john thaxter, kate kellaway, londonist, maxwell cooter, michael billington, michael coveney, music omh, philip franks, quentin letts, regent's park open air, sam smith, shakespeare, the guardian, the independent, the mail, the observer, the stage, the telegraph, there ought to be clowns, what's on stage, zoe j griffiths
Posted by Matt on 1 March, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Upper-echelon theatre critics are as worried as young hopefuls about “celebrity critics”, albeit for different reasons.
Filed under Features · Tagged with financial times, ian shuttleworth, karen fricker, kate bassett, lyn gardner, mark shenton, sunday express, the collective review, the guardian, the independent, the stage
Posted by Matt on 3 February, 2010 · Leave a Comment
An original member of La Clique, Martinez exists in the borderlands between stand-up comedy, burlesque dance, stage magic and performance art. Similarly, My Stories, Your Emails is a lecture, a stand-up act, a play, a confession and an autobiography while simultaneously being none of these things.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with barbican, british theatre guide, charles spencer, culture wars, dominic maxwell, evening standard, financial times, henry hitchings, ian shuttleworth, lyn gardner, mark whitelaw, matt trueman, music omh, rhoda koenig, sam smith, the guardian, the independent, the telegraph, ursula martinez
Posted by Matt on 14 December, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Two one-act plays back to back don’t usually make a successful two-act play. Right? Which suggests it’s probably no coincidence that Stefan Golaszewski Speaks About A Girl He Once Loved and Stefan Golaszewski Is A Widower work so well as a double bill; it seems likely they were always meant to be performed together.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with british theatre guide, bush, charles spencer, culture wars, dominic maxwell, jane edwardes, london theatre blog, lyn gardner, matt trueman, music omh, natasha tripney, paul taylor, philip fisher, phillip breen, stefan golaszewski, the collective review, the guardian, the independent, the telegraph, the times, time out
Posted by Matt on 2 October, 2009 · Leave a Comment
The machine is the undisputed star of the production, which, after a few deliberately confusing false-starts, eventually reveals itself as a parable about the dangers of stock market speculation.
Filed under Reviews · Tagged with alice jones, émile zola, dominic cavendish, ed breakenridge, james cowan, jane edwardes, london theatre blog, londonist, lyn gardner, planet notion, rob walport, run riot, sans taste, shunt, stephen armstrong, terri paddock, the guardian, the independent, the telegraph, the times, tiffany pritchard, time out, tyro theatre critic, webcowgirl, what's on stage
